U.S. state, local government tax haul rises to $389.2 bln in Q4

(Reuters) – U.S. state and local government tax revenues rose to $389.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, up 4.2 percent over the same quarter the previous year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau published on Tuesday.

The total is also 35 percent higher than the third quarter of 2015, when revenues were revised slightly higher to $288.7 billion.

Much of the quarter-over-quarter increase was due to property taxes, which alone came in at $198.6 billion, the highest quarterly total ever, according to Census data going back to 1992.

Property taxes are typically paid at the end of the year, a Census analyst said.

The Census data examines the four largest state and local government tax categories: property, sales, individual income and corporate income taxes.

Corporation net income tax revenues declined in the fourth quarter by 6.9 percent to $10.8 billion.